Improvement in rotary engines



W.Y F; LEOPOLD.

RQTARY ENGINE. i Patented Aug.1,1876.

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a XM j a? y WMf/ UNITED STATES FEI WILLIAM F. LEOPOLD,OOF ST. JOSEPH,MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT INROTARV ENGINES.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent N0. 180,606, dated August1, 1876; application led December 27, 1875. I v

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. LEOPOLD, of the city of St. Joseph,county ot' Buchanan, and State of Missouri, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Rotary Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany andform part of this speciiication, is a description ot' my inventionsufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention consists in the employment in a rotary engine ot' abutmentsprovided with pockets, and arranged to rock, and also servingautomatically to open and close the exhaust-pipes, the constructionpermit-ting the wheel to be reversed or run in either direction.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of an engine embodying` myinvention, a portion being broken away to show the parts within;

Fig. 2, a detached view ot one ot' the abutments; and Figs. 3, 4,slide-valves.

The rocking abutment A is provided with a pocket, b, on each side of itspivot or axis c, these pocket-s serving to receive a full charge ofincoming steam, and to insure a successful working of the abutment.-This rocking abutment is arranged to work at its upper part in achamber, d, located on the exterior of the wheel-case E, and above whichchamber are the two steam-boxesfg, each ot' which is provided wit-h anappropriate valve, h and t', respectively. The valve fi, it will beunderstood, opens and closes twice during each revolution ofthe wheel K.

The inlet-ports from the steam-box are shown at Z l, and an exit-pipe oroutlet for the escape of exhaust steam is shown at m, its mouth being solocated as to be closed and opened by the face of the abutment A duringits rocking movements. (See Fig. '2.)

The periphery ofthe wheel K and the adjacent face ofthe casing A may beconcaved to a semicircle in cross-section,as in the Harwood patent, No.168,837, dated October 19, 1875, so as to form, in fact, an annularcylindrical tube.

The steam-boxes, where only two are employed, are placed directlyopposite each oth er, one on each side of the shaft of wheel K, and

in the same vertical line. When I employ four; six, eight, or ten ports,they ar'e placed equidistant from each other, and so actuated that thepressure upon the journals is counterbalanced. .t

\Vhen the wheel K (revolving inthe direction of the arrow) has carriedthe piston-head to the point a, the valve t' gradually withdraws fromthe port 97, the steam rushes through the upper and the lower port, and,striking in the pocket b ot' the cylinder-head A, throws that end of itdown against the wheel, as shown in Fig. 2, thus forming the abutment.The opposite end of the abutment being at the same time correspondinglyraised, the exhaust steam then escapes at the rear ot' this abutment Athrough the exhaust-pipe, connected at m.

For operating the valves in the steamchests I employ an eccentric, O, onthe axis of the wheel K, the rodp ot' this eccentric beingl connectedwith and actuating the levers g q', each of which actuates itsrespective slide-rod 'r and its attached slide-valve, the opening in thevalve-seat and the valve being such that the valve shall be opened andclosed twice in each revolution of the wheel-viz., once at long radiusand once at short radius.

The valves for opening and closing the ports may be actuated either fromthe eccentric O, or by connection with the eccentric rod p, or in anyother suitable manner.

The machinery for actuating all parts of this engine, it will be seen,is very simple and devoid ot' complication.

In the upper part ot' the abutment A I insert a wedge-shapedv ordovetailed packingpiece, r. adapted to be thrown upward by the force ot'the steam, or by means of a spring, to form a steam-tight joint.

-l claim- In combination with the rocking abutment A, constructed withthe pockets b b, exhaustpipes arranged so as to be opened and closed bythe side ot' the abutment during its movements, all as shown anddescribed.

WILLIAM F. LEOPOLD.

Witnesses:

FRANKLIN PORTER, L. R. LANCASTER.

